JOHN Bishop and Jimmy Carr are set to play headline shows at this year’s Liverpool Comedy Festival.

Paul Merton, Sean Lock and Milton Jones are among other names appearing during the 10-day laughterfest which runs from May 6-16.

Other comedians who will perform gigs at venues across the city include Sam Avery, Brendan Riley, Pete Firman and rising comedy stars Jon Richardson and Jack Whitehall.

John Bishop said today: “The Liverpool Comedy Festival is a great platform for local and national comics to perform on and it’s brilliant to have such a lot of talent in the city in such a short space of time.

“I’m really looking forward to it from a personal point of view as I’ve had the pleasure of growing with the festival from my first gigs in the Unity in front of a small crowd to a packed ECHO Arena this year.”

Rawhide at the Royal Court will host some shows while the Baa Bar in Myrtle Street is being used as a main venue for the first time.

The Empire, Philharmonic Hall and Unity theatre are among other venues while comedy clubs such as Baby Blue and the Slaughterhouse will offer their own shows.

Baa Bar general manager Lynsey Gannon said: “We’re really looking forward to being involved this year. We’ve got the upstairs room looking great and it’s brilliant to have the bar full of happy people.”

The festival, now in its 9th year, will end with the traditional Best of Liverpool Night at the Royal Court where a slice of the proceeds will be donated to the ECHO’s Liverpool Unites charity to help disadvantaged children across Merseyside.

The 10-day festival will also feature comedy workshops, young people’s comedy nights and the return of old favourite Drink Up Stand Up as well as the chance to see the Edinburgh smash hit How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse.

Gillian Miller, chairman of the Liverpool Comedy Trust, said: “The festival is an institution now and we’re delighted so many great comics want to get involved.

“We couldn’t put together such a popular festival without the support of our media partners the Liverpool ECHO and Radio City and we’ve also had great support from Liverpool city council every year since we began in 2002.”